Tilaknagar Industries: Tilaknagar Industries plans $500 million acquisition of Imperial Blue Whisky from Pernod Ricard

Mumbai: Tilaknagar Industries, the maker of Mansion House and Courrier Napoleon brandies, is looking to raise up to $500 million to fund the potential acquisition of whisky brand Imperial Blue from French spirits giant Pernod Ricard, people familiar with the matter told ET.

The Mumbai-based distiller has mandated Kotak Mahindra Bank and Avendus Capital to arrange the financing, which is expected to be structured as rupee-denominated non-convertible debentures (NCDs), the people said, requesting anonymity as the information is private.

The debt is likely to be priced in the low-to-mid teens, given the size of the transaction and Tilak Nagar’s credit profile, they added. In January 2024, Crisil upgraded the company to A-/stable, leading to interest rate reduction on a Kotak loan from 13% to 9.95%, effective mid Q1 FY25, according to the company’s investor presentation.

Tilaknagar is looking to fund a major part of the bid through debt and the remaining via equity, one source said.

“Avendus and Kotak have been reaching out to investors to raise around $500 million, where the deal will be a mix of fundraise from mutual funds and non-banking finance companies through non-convertible debentures and loans from foreign banks,” said one of the sources. “Around $100 of this could be raised through private credit funds.”

Spokespersons at Tilaknagar, Kotak and Avendus did not respond to requests for comment. ET had on June 4 reported that Tilaknagar is leading the acquisition race for Imperial Blue, marking India’s biggest alcobev M&A in nearly a decade.Tilaknagar’s debt was restructured with Edelweiss ARC in 2020. Since then, the company’s financials have improved.